Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 October 30

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 30

Science behind the friend zone

Is there any scientific backing to the concept of friend zone? 90.194.52.17 (talk) 15:45, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Considering the "friend zone" is basically guys thinking that being nice to women makes them deserving of sex, probably not. No one is beholden to have sex with you just because you were "nice" to them, and if you were only "nice" to them in an attempt to get into their pants, you actually aren't "nice" to begin with. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 16:12, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^all of this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ --Jayron32 18:09, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

”Friend zone” says exactly this. It basically seems to say that if you don’t make your intentions clear and be a nice guy, you get friend zoned. 90.194.52.17 (talk) 00:58, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

I have moved your comment to be below Jayron32's. Generally speaking comments at the same indentation level should go in chronological order. [1] But it's particularly important here as risks confusion otherwise. Nil Einne (talk) 03:31, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Our article, Friend zone, doesn't have much of what I'd call scientific, but does have some critical evaluations of the term. You may find more by searching under "Pickup artist" and other terms listed there, as that's essentially the term for a person (let's face it: male) seeking to skip or avoid the friend zone. Matt Deres (talk) 16:48, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

I did not know the term, but I understand (also from Wiktionary) that when person A is "in the friend zone" (of person B), it means that B cherishes a platonic friendship with A, but, unlike A, is not interested in beginning a romantic relationship. I do not see how this relates in any specific way to gender roles or sexual orientation. Cannot Eve be in the friend zone of Steve, while Steve is in the friend zone of Adam? Obviously, this kind of situation occurs all the time; I don't know what it would mean for this to have "scientific backing". Is there any scientific backing to the concept of double parking?  --Lambiam 20:48, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

The gender specific nature of this term, which is a social construct created one and not a scientific one, can be found in the Wikipedia article on the subject. Just as gender roles in general ("boys wear blue, girls wear pink") are social constructs, so is the gender application of the "friend zone." In that application, it has generally and near universally been applied as a man being interested in a romantic relationship with a woman, and the woman only being interested in a platonic friendship with the man. More broadly, it's that the guy is a dick and possibly on the path to being a date rapist. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 21:15, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

How does the use of the term, or the feeling that it has happened to you, make someone a dick, let alone indicate that they may become a rapist? I don't see anything in our article that would indicate that, not in the way that I've seen the term actually used? Iapetus (talk) 10:41, 3 November 2020 (UTC)

Not an RS but our article talk page Talk:Friend zone as well as some of the article history like [2] [3] [4] may help in understanding why the term is often seen as misogynistic. BTW this [5] has a bunch of sources and while many of them are blogs some are theses and similar so while probably not RS, perhaps of some interest. Nil Einne (talk) 04:06, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Why red and blue become black in the darkness?

What's the scientifical substantiation for the fact that red and blue looks black at the darkness? (how to explain it by the light waves?) --ThePupil (talk) 23:42, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

The eye is more sensitive to green light. In low light you use the rod cells, and these are much more sensitive to bluish-green, see dashed black line in the graph. For the cone cells you have two kinds of cells L and M responding to green, but that will be in slightly higher light levels, and they are more sensitive when the light is yellowish-green. See also Purkinje effect. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 02:58, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

A practical application is that military lamps designed for map reading emit red light so as to be less visible to an enemy. For that reason, the colours on military maps are designed to be "red-light readable". Alansplodge (talk) 14:40, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Not only: red light doesn't spoil the darkness adaptation of the eye as much as white light 2003:F5:6F05:2A00:ADA5:8506:2DD2:A1D7 (talk) 15:14, 31 October 2020 (UTC) Marco PB

@Graeme Bartlett, thank you for the answer, but I'm not sure I understood it. Do you mean to say that Purkinje effect is also the one that responsible to 'turn' blue into black at nights? If you do, so why the red color is the one that is traditionally used to demonstrate Purkinje effect? Is it just because it's more dominant or because it works mainly on this color? --ThePupil (talk) 23:49, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Yes, Purkinje effect makes blue look black as well as making red look black. (and green looks grey) Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:15, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night Removes the colours from our sight; Red is grey and yellow white, But we decide which is right And which is an illusion. —Tamfang (talk) 01:31, 2 November 2020 (UTC)